Protected Rats

It's reported that, in Germany, if you have a rat infestation, your options for getting rid of the rats are limited by animal protection laws. One must first determine the type of rat. If one has black rats, an endangered species protected under German law, the only option is to carefully trap and relocate the rats to another, more rat-friendly, place. [Insert cheap joke here.]

However, if one has brown rats in the home, they can be eliminated, but they "may only be killed under anesthesia. If the killing is done without anesthesia as part of licit pest control, the killing may only be carried out if it doesn't cause more than the inevitable pain." This means traps and guns are prohibited because they cause pain. Consequently, the only method permissible is a slow, presumably painless (I don't know how anyone would know if a rat was in pain) poisoning with a blood-clotting substance. This process takes several days. While waiting for them to die, I assume a person just learns to live with the rats.

It's obvious that the Germans have become unreasonable in legislating protection for animals. Rats are disease-carrying vermin and they should be eradicated. They have and will continue to be ubiquitous on the planet Earth despite any effort to save or destroy them. The idea of protecting rats is the most ludicrous concept I've heard.

Of course, I probably shouldn't be so quick in forming an opinion. When the animal rights extremists get a foothold in the political realm, protecting rats easily becomes law. Next, I'll probably find that the Germans are protecting cockroaches also.